Auckland War Memorial Museum

I fuel on history, especially the War stuff so naturally, we had to visit the War Memorial in Auckland. 

Ir houses collections that concentrate on New Zealand history, natural history, as well as military history.

Right across the main entrance is this Cenotaph surrounded by consecrated grounds (Court of Honor) which serves as a War Memorial to those who lost their lives fighting in the First and Second World Wars.

Tickets are priced at NZD$25 each, which I have to say is real steep for a museum entry..

So basically the Museum covered history from the time of the arrival of the Maori (Ground Floor), Natural History (First Floor) and the War histories (Second Floor).

We spent a lot of time on the Ground and Second Floor. I am not that big on Natural History.

This was taken in a replica of a classroom for the Maori children when they were taken over by the British back in in the 1800s.

History goes like this: Polynesians migrated eastward in roughly two waves, the first occurring in the Bismarck Archipelago, Samoa and Tonga and the second occuring later spreading further to the outer Polynesian Triangle, bordered by Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand. They sailed using voyaging canoes like the one pictured above.

There were a lot of cool and authentic Maori displays like the Wharenui, which is a communal house used normally for meetings.

The cool part about the Natural History floor was the information on volcanoes because yep, Auckland is built on a volcano field. About 14,000 earthquakes occur in and around the country each year, of which between 150 and 200 are big enough to be felt. As a result, New Zealand has very stringent building regulations.

Come the Second Floor, which was the highlight of my visit.

New Zealand was involved in both the Great Wars, and sent soldiers to

 fight alongside Great Britain. Anzac Day is on April 25th and commemorates all New Zealanders killed in war and also honours returned servicemen and women.

Quick lowdown on Anzac Day from nzhistory.gov.nz:

  The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. The aim was to capture the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. At the end of the campaign, Gallipoli was still held by its Turkish defenders. Thousands lost their lives in the Gallipoli campaign: 87,000 Turks, 44,000 men from France and the British Empire, including 8500 Australians. To this day, Australia also marks the events of 25 April. Among the dead were 2779 New Zealanders, about a sixth of those who served on Gallipoli. It may have led to a military defeat, but for many New Zealanders then and since, the Gallipoli landings meant the beginning of something else – a feeling that New Zealand had a role as a distinct nation, even as it fought on the other side of the world in the name of the British Empire. Anzac Day was first marked in 1916. The day has gone through many changes since then. The ceremonies that are held at war memorials up and down New Zealand, or in places overseas where New Zealanders gather, remain rich in tradition and ritual befitting a military funeral.

This Spitfire was never used in battle, but is nevertheless a rare example of the aircraft which was the favorite fighter aircraft of New Zealand and British fighter pilots.

This comes to a close to my pictures! Overall the Museum was a good day spent. We had a good insight to how New Zealand came about from the very beginning, and how both Great Wars affected the country and countrymen.

However if you are going to Wellington, you can pretty much see the same thing for free at the Te Papa Museum, which is the country's national museum. 

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